Taking traditional elements, myths and iconography from ancient Balinese culture and literature, Sasmita departs from convention and traces the marginalised narrative of women in Balinese society.
Citra Sasmita is a Balinese artist whose practice focuses on dismantling the myths and misconceptions of local art and culture in Bali, Indonesia. She is also deeply invested in questioning a woman’s place in society and seeks to upend the normative constructs of gender. Sasmita engages with the Indonesian Kamasan painting technique, which dates from the fifteenth century and traditionally practiced exclusively by men, to reimagine and reinvent epics of war and romance as a reclaimation of female agency. Her works reflect the complexity between the Anthropocene, post-human, and feminism while simultaneously repositioning women within the historical canon – an action that is necessarily urgent in her Balinese environment.
A self-taught artist, Citra Sasmita studied literature and physics at Udayana University and Ganesha University of Education, then worked as a short story illustrator for the Bali Post before she began developing her expanded artistic practice.
Sasmita’s work has been featured in numerous biennales including the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024); Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2024); 3rd Thailand Biennale, Chiangrai (2024); 35th São Paolo Biennale (2023); Kathmandu Triennale 2077, Nepal (2022); Biennale Jogja, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2019). She will be participating in the forthcoming Toronto Biennale (21 Sep-1 Dec 2024), Sharjah Biennial 16 (6 Feb- 15 June 2025) and Hawaii Triennale (15 Feb-4 May 2025). In January 2025, she will have her first solo exhibition in the UK at Barbican, The Curve, London.